Erdogan Offers Istanbul for Peace Talks, Zelensky Agrees to New Security Cooperation

President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have agreed on new security and energy cooperation steps following high-level talks in Istanbul on Saturday, April 4, according to the Office of the President of Ukraine following a leadership meeting.

During the meeting, Erdogan reaffirmed Turkey’s readiness to play a leading role in achieving a sustainable peace and offered to host a new round of negotiations between delegations from Ukraine, the US and Russia.

“Erdogan proposes holding peace talks in Istanbul; we are ready to come,” Zelensky said in a brief comment to the media following a subsequent meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

“We are ready for a meeting at the leadership level in any format.”

Zelensky and Erdogan also discussed practical steps for joint projects in gas infrastructure and the development of gas fields. Zelensky noted that the teams would finalize the details of these agreements in the coming days.

“We agreed on new steps in security cooperation. This primarily concerns things where we can support Turkey: expertise, technologies, and experience,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. He expressed gratitude to the Turkish people for their consistent support of Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity.

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The visit comes at a major diplomatic juncture, occurring just a day after Erdogan held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Black Sea security and the conflict in the Middle East. Moscow recently accused Kyiv of targeting the TurkStream gas pipeline, a claim Ukraine has denied, while Russia continues to ignore Zelensky’s proposal for an Easter ceasefire and the protection of energy infrastructure.

Zelensky has previously linked the wars in Europe and the Middle East, accusing Russia of “fomenting conflict” in the Gulf through its support of the Iranian regime. The Istanbul talks serve as a platform to address these overlapping security threats and reinforce Turkey’s role as a mediator in regional logistics and energy security.